Lead [Pb] Lead is a soft,
malleable and heavy post-transition metal. Metallic lead has a
bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes
to a dull grayish color when exposed to air. Lead has a shiny
chrome-silver luster when it is melted into a liquid. It is also
the heaviest non-radioactive element.
Lead is used in building construction, lead-acid batteries, bullets
and shot, weights, as part of solders, pewters, fusible alloys, and
as a radiation shield. Lead has the highest atomic number of all of
the stable elements. If ingested, lead is poisonous to animals and
humans, damaging the nervous system and causing brain disorders.
Excessive lead also causes blood disorders in mammals. Lead is a
neurotoxin that accumulates both in soft tissues and the bones.
Lead poisoning has been documented from ancient Rome, ancient
Greece, and ancient China.